Today Bob pruned one of our Apple trees and I saved the bark for dyeing. I’ve not done this before but I’ve been doing some research on it.

Our apple trees are old and neglected and they need a good prune. We think we can probably cut them back a little harder, but we’re going to look into it first.

I read that the best part to use is the inner bark and twigs. I focused on the green wood as there was a lot of dead stuff coming off. I have no idea what’s better for dyeing but the green shoots made sense to me.

It was suggested to soak the wood for about a week before using them in a dye bath. I used our double ceramic filtered well water to avoid any metals and other weirdness. I’ve got them sitting in a sunny window. JoJo is curious and also mad that we went outside and didn’t take her with us, which we never do. But if we leave the house, when we come back she yells at us for awhile to express her discontent. Or maybe she is just asking us where we went and why didn’t we take her with us? We’re always telling her it’s not safe out there for her (foxes, coyotes, falcons, crows the size of… well, the same size as JoJo) so she’s probably worried about us when we go outside.

I also dyed some wool with acid dye today. This color is silver and you can see I am able to recreate my results from a few weeks ago. The Merino takes the dye well. The Shetland is middling, and the Romeldale-CVM which is unprocessed and sunbleached takes the least color. I used vinegar in this bath.

These will be perfect for my next felt piece which is about a stormy day in Iona, Cape Breton.

I received what I think? is my last installment of my Fairlight Fibers yarn club. I guess she got a little behind on her shipments as I canceled in January after six months, which was what I had originally signed up for. But it kept charging me so I had to go in and manually cancel. I enjoyed this club but wanted to try some new ones. Anyway, this gorgeous yarn is 50/50 alpaca and rose fiber. That’s right. Rose fiber! It’s very soft and has a lovely sheen. Not sure what to make with it. Something special.

I hope you’re having a lovely Saturday, whatever you’re doing. I need to catch up on my Water shawl as all my KAL pals are way ahead of me!